Route: Krios Beach
Area: Crete
Date of walk: 25th April 2026
Walkers: Andrew and Gilly
Distance: 1.6 miles
Ascent: 300 feet
Weather: Light rain, becoming heavy
Today was another poor weather day and, as forecast, there was heavy rain around our base in north west Crete. There appeared to be a chance of drier weather on the south coast so we made the one hour journey to the pleasant port of Paleohora in the south west of the island. The long distance E4 path runs through Paleohora and along the coast, but this section isn’t particularly inspiring so we drove further west to Krios Beach to start a coastal walk. It would be a linear walk and we were aware that we’d have to retrace our steps at some point. The weather was overcast but at least it was dry, and we thought we’d made a good choice
From the free parking spaces we walked along the stony beach and clambered over a rock headland. A few spots of rain didn’t deter us and we descended to another small beach, and then made a rocky climb up to a headland, guided through the rough terrain by E4 signs. The route ahead revealed itself from the top of the headland, but unfortunately the rain had become much heavier by now. A track on our right presented an opportunity to return and reluctantly we did so, cutting short our intended walk
We’d made a best of a bad weather day. On a sunnier day it would be an excellent short walk, with the opportunity to extend it into a much longer one by walking as far as Elafonisi (there are a couple of vertiginous sections further along, so check other sources before attempting it)
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Krios Beach, a popular place with the locals, but it was deserted today (except for the local cat)
Looking out over the Libyan Sea
We walk to the end of Krios Beach and then clamber up the rocky headland
We aim for the sign ahead
We follow the yellow arrow and scramble down to another stony beach
Another clamber follows as we leave the beach and head uphill
Painted arrows point out the route
Looking back to the Libyan Sea
We follow a rough path uphill
Looking across to a small chapel. We didn't realise at the time, but we'd pass by it shortly after abandoning our walk
We follow the E4 marker posts uphill
We aim for the col in the centre of the photo. It starts to rain at this point
We arrive at the col, but by now it's raining heavily and so we abandon our plan to continue along the coast. A wide track provides a pleasant and easy return to the start. In better weather this would be a lovely small circular walk
Later that day, olive groves in the grounds of the Hotel Elia...
We'd made the best of a poor weather day and look forward to the return of sunny weather tomorrow
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